A Nice Girl
by herbologylover
Summary: Hermione runs into Sam and Dean while tracking Death Eaters in America after the wars. Can they learn to trust what they have been taught not to?
1. Chapter 1

The bar was tightly packed with scruffily dressed men knocking back beers and shots of whiskey, a few scantily clad women scattered throughout no doubt trying to make some cash. This was not the sort of place Hermione was used to and her short stature and layered clothing singled her out, intensifying how awkward she felt.

Luckily a small table situated in the corner of the bar freed itself up so she rushed over, cradling her satchel in one hand and surprisingly a beer in the other. She noticed two other men heading in the direction of the table so she sped up, weaving in and out if the leery drunks surrounding her. In her haste she missed the bag some woman had haphazardly left on the floor attached to a bar stool and was flung forward several feet her bag cushioning her fall. The beer bottle spun out of her grasp as she made to catch herself, and rolled along the floor spilling the dregs in an arch as it spun carelessly towards her initial target.

Hermione sprung immediately to her feet smoothing out her hair and readjusting the leather jacket she wore. Her eyes followed the trail of bubbly beer along the floor to the bottle that was now nestled underneath a well-worn work boot. Apprehensively she looked up the distressed jeans, plaid shirt, and cocky smirk to meet the striking green eyes set in an extremely handsome face. She felt herself blushing before she realised that his friend was sat at the table that she had intended to work at. An audible sigh escaped her lips and the handsome stranger raised an eyebrow, still smirking.

Turning towards the door Hermione felt a grip on her arm. She spun around, realising all too late that the floor was still slippery from her earlier accident. For the second time that evening Hermione felt herself falling, this time spinning round to catch the mysterious man's eyes once again. Bracing herself for the fall Hermione was shocked when a pair of arms shot out and caught her in an embrace. A gruff voice broke the silence, "You wanna be careful there sweetheart, might break that pretty little face of yours", he set her back on her feet in front of him, "and I'm Dean by the way." Hermione, still blushing from her earlier clumsiness felt her cheeks redden again at the compliment but managed to pull it back and hold out her hand.

"Hermione," She began confidently, "and thank you, I'm not normally this clumsy" she looked down and brushed a few strands of curly hair from her face. He shook her hand, lingering a second too long, but eventually dropping it.

"Well Hermione, this is your lucky day." He winked, igniting her face all over again, "You can join me and my brother Sam," the tall guy already sat at the table nodded in her direction "at this lovely secluded table right here. Oh and British, very hot" He swept his arm backwards welcoming her to take a seat on the side opposite Sam. Hermione faltered wondering if it was the best idea to sit with two strangers in a bar full of truthfully weird people, but they looked harmless enough, and Dean had caught her when she had fallen. Maybe it was the beer, or maybe she just really liked the compliments Dean was giving her but for some reason she joined his brother at the table. After carefully setting down her satchel and pulling out her laptop Hermione looked up to see Dean pulling in to a chair opposite her.

She smiled shyly and nodded her head at Sam, "Hi Sam, I'm Hermione Granger." He stuck out his hand to shake hers and she noticed how tall he must truly be as his hand swallowed hers up in a warm handshake.

"Hi Hermione, nice to meet you." He smiled shaking his brown hair away from his brow, "If you don't mind me asking, how'd a nice girl like you," Hermione found herself blushing again, "end up in a place like this?" he finished with a flamboyant look around the bar. At this point both boys were looking at her intently.

Hermione realised that she couldn't tell them the real reason why she was here, they were only muggles of course, so she simply stated. "Work." When neither man seemed satisfied with that answer she continued, "I report for the international section of a British Newspaper, The Prophet, anything from politics to Paris Hilton. Though personally I prefer the politics," Sam was smiling politely, but Dean was making a retching face until she fixed him a glare. "Not that my editor really listens" she finished grumpily.

While the boys snickered at the upset look on her face Hermione realised that she wasn't far off, she _had_ reported for the daily prophet a few times. She _had_ been involved in some rather interesting politics within the American Ministry that she did _report_ to her supervisor back in England, the same supervisor who does not _listen to her _about the prevalence of magical beings in America.

She snapped back when she realised that Dean was talking to her, "… reporters too, what are you reporting around here?" she noticed that neither of the men in front of her looked like reporters, but neither did she, and maybe they knew something about the case that she was on in the town. A few of the last Death Eaters were supposedly spotted a few miles out of the town, which had a small magical population that was very well hidden. They had been led here by the local and very successful school for muggleborns near the town library, deciding to continue Voldemorts work on international soil.

"Um, there have been a few disappearances locally, y'know, the politician's daughter, that librarian, the doctor… Abnormalities are quite popular with our readers." The two brothers looked at each other, concern marring the features of Dean's face, until they looked back at Hermione. Their previously joyous faces were now serious and deadly.

Dean spoke in a low voice, so quiet that Hermione had to lean in slightly to hear what he was saying. "You need to stay away Hermione, don't look into this, don't talk to people about it. Go somewhere else. There's a guy two states over that swears he was abducted by aliens. Report that. In fact, report anything but this." Hermione stared at him, what did the pair know about the Death Eater attacks. Were they just concerned by the disappearances, or was it more. She leaned back in her chair, her mind whirring, churning out the possible scenarios in which the night would end. Finally she sat forward again the boys still looking at her waiting for her decision.

"I don't know what you know about this, but you are civilians. So I am afriaid that I am going to have to ask you to stay out of this." Hermione made to stand up, packing away her laptop and drinking the last of Dean's beer as she dropped hers. With incredible speed both brothers were stood in front of her before she had got out of her chair. She sighed loudly. "Alright I can see this is not going to go smoothly. Why don't we go somewhere a little more… private. There is a motel 5 blocks down. Room 119, meet me in 20 minutes." After an intense stare from both men that lasted all too long Hermione bustled past, finally realising that she was almost a foot shorter than the both of them. Maybe heels would be needed for the confrontation, that is if she didn't Obliviate them first."


	2. Chapter 2

Managing to exit the bar unscathed Hermione turned down the adjacent alleyway, pulled out her wand and apparated back to her messy motel room. She didn't see the two men follow her out and turn down the alley just as she span on her heel, then disappeared.

Dean looked at Sam eyes wide, mouth agape. This night was getting weirder and weirder; he had only invited the girl to sit with them because he thought that she was just a nice girl. Now it seemed there was more to Hermione than he previously thought.  
"Well, we should probably head to the motel." Sam started lamely, but Dean had other ideas. He sent Sam an extremely snarky glare then strode down the alleyway searching for any clues as to what Hermione was or where she may have gone.  
"You saw what she did as well as me Sammy. Don't tell me that you are not in the slightest unsettled by this." His grave voice echoed around the empty alley as he eyed Sam leaning near the entrance.  
"Sure it was weird and strangely demon-like, but we can't just jump to conclusions. We might as well meet her at the motel and hear her out; she obviously knows something about the case in this town"

"Yeah, yeah. You're right, let's go." He stood up and marched back out towards the impala in the parking space right in front of the bar. "But don't think that I will hesitate to shoot her if she pulls something like that again. She might even be the one killing these people."  
Sam laughed, "Did we meet the same girl? She could barely walk twenty feet without bumping into something. And that was sober!" Grunting, Dean walked past him opening the trunk to put away the gun he had in the waist band of his jeans. Without Sam seeing he picked up the demon knife, two flasks of holy water, some salt and a silver blade, and stored them about his person. They both settled into the car as the engine roared to life and headed towards the motel that was incidentally the same one they were staying at, the unfinished argument still fizzling in the air.

With classic rock blaring from the radio Dean pulled the impala into a spot next to their room, he turned off the music and then to Sam. "What's the game plan then Sammy?" Sam snorted.  
"We haven't got a _game plan_ Dean. She's just a girl; we are just going to talk to her." Dean was still glaring at him, "you take the knife, and I'll take some holy water?" He added sceptically at the end. That satisfied Dean as he nodded, handing a flask of holy water to Sam. Sam, although being still concerned about the way Dean was acting decided to take the lead.

Sam stepped up to the door, the plastic 119 reflecting the headlights from the impala, and rapped on the door. He heard some shuffling from within, then the scraping of the lock, and finally the door opened a crack and Hermione's face peeked through the opening. She smiled at him, fully opening the door to a spotless room with only a small purple beaded bag lying on the bed. Three cool beer bottles were stood on the small table along with a bowl filled with chips.  
"A real feast." Sam stated with a chuckle, Hermione giggled and joined him at the table picking up her already open beer.  
"Is Dean here?" She started cautiously, glancing back towards the door as the headlights went off.  
"Yeah he should be right along" he smiled kindly, "just having a little strop."  
The door slammed shut and Dean walked in muttering under his breath in a different language. Hermione listened intently as Sam glared at his brother. A sudden look of realisation passed over Hermione's face. In an instant she was stood in front of Dean a scowl plastered across her face.

"Now you listen to me," she turned to face Sam as well, "I don't know who you are, but I am _not_ a demon." She turned back to Dean a defiant air around her, "You got holy water? Try me" Dean grabbed her arm and pulled up her sleeve revealing a jagged scar. Immediately Hermione pulled back her arm, the treat of tears glistening in her eyes. At some point Dean had pulled out a knife with strange symbols on it. She looked between the brothers now knowing what was going on. She uttered one word. "Hunters"

"Yes we're hunters. And if you know that you must be something we are hunting an-" Dean was cut off as Sam stood in front of him as Hermione backed up towards her bag withdrawing her wand from her jacket. There was a scuffle between the brothers and suddenly a gun appeared pointing at Hermione.  
"What the hell Dean? We came here to talk about the case! Why did you even bring a gun?!" Sam was now practically screaming at Dean who was trying to point the gun around him at Hermione.

Hermione knew who they were, from the description of devilishly handsome men via a secretary at the ministry and her instincts. The Winchesters. Hunters. _A nuisance_. Sure they knew how to stop a meddlesome ghost or kill a few demons, but when death eaters were involved they were just collateral damage. She moved forward, Dean and Sam watching as a single tear fell down her cheek.

"I think we should start again. My name is Hermione Granger, you are Sam and Dean Winchester. You are hunters of all things supernatural. Correct?" She watched as Sam nodded and Dean tightened his grip on his gun. "I can guarantee that this case is not the sort of thing that you are equipped to deal with, despite your impressive arsenal."  
"How do you know that it is not something that we can deal with? We've-" Dean began but was cut off again.  
"I know, wendigo, demon, ghost, djinn. But this, this is something that I have to do alone." She paused taking in a deep rattling breath, "you can't handle this. Just... Just leave. Please" she sat down tears falling freely, her wand lying in her lap.

"You forgot werewolves, shifters, witches…" Dean trailed off as Hermione flinched, wet streaks growing on her cheeks. "Shit, don't cry. I know it's a lot to take in, everything that goes bump in the night, real and ready to attack…" The crying hadn't stopped so both brothers settled either side of Hermione on the bed, Dean forgetting his earlier instinct to kill her. All three sat in silence until Hermione stopped crying. Slowly she stood up, wiping her face.

"What I am about to say is breaking laws, international laws, but I think that you need to hear it. Just don't shoot me until I finish, okay?" Dean nodded so she continued. "I work for the American Ministry, not the one you know though. I am tracking some criminals from England that escaped after the war before being persecuted for the crimes they committed. You can't stop them because they are very powerful wizards called Death Eaters, but I can because I am a witch." Although Dean had agreed to listen, he rose swiftly with gun in hand, and shot straight at Hermione's heart.

The sound of the gun-shot echoed around the motel room as three things happened all at once.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione threw up a shield deflecting the bullet, her instincts still sharp from the war. The bullet fell to the floor, crushed as if it had hit a bullet proof vest. Sam had stood and pushed the gun out of Deans hand tackling him to the bed and pinning him down, a tussle following. As Hermione watched gobsmacked the sound of wings silenced the brothers and a man in a tan trench coat with a five o'clock shadow appeared next to her. He was not accompanied by the usual sound of apparition so Hermione knew that he wasn't a wizard, but as the boys had stopped fighting she realised that they must know him. Dean approached him slapping him on the back, "Cas buddy, how are you doing? Haven't seen you in a while." The man had an extremely serious face and looked unhappy; it was rather strange that he had showed up at that moment. Hermione couldn't quite understand how Dean could be so friendly with this man that obviously wasn't human, yet shoot at her when she mentioned she was a witch.

"You shall not harm this woman." Cas stated with an air of finality, coming to stand in front of Hermione with his legs wide in a fighting stance. Being in a room with these men made Hermione feel very small, and Hermione didn't like feeling very small. Dean stepped in before she could do anything, dragging Cas to the side and speaking in a hushed whisper that Hermione could still hear.

"Are you out of your mind?! She's a witch. A witch!" His eyebrows rose into his hair line as Cas replied calmly.

"Yes, the witch that will save people, thousands of people, more than you can imagine." Then he turned to Hermione, "I am Castiel, an angel of The Lord. I am here to watch over you."

"Do you mean you are my guardian angel?" Hermione asked speculatively eyeing the man in front of her. He looked nothing like the angels in the church her mother used to take her to when she was a young girl and she would pray that she could fit in at school. Maybe she should do some research on the subject, she could even ask Sam, he seemed to be the more studious of the brothers. The man slowly nodded, replying to her question.

"Yes, but not in the sense that you know. I am an angel, I am also your guardian, but I am not a guardian angel. They are special, more like a cupid than a normal angel. I am also the guardian of other people such as Dean here." Dean spluttered in the corner on the beer that he had picked up, "You are my guardian angel?" he asked, confusion flowing through every word.

"Yes, how is that so hard to believe? I _did_ pull you out of hell." Castiel finished matter-of-factly and returned to speak to Hermione. "You are special, more than you know. A warrior, a defeater of evils three, the mother, the sacrifice and the undying king. Keep strong and have patience with these boys," then in a lower voice, "they shall come around in due time."  
Sam looked at Hermione in confusion and awe; he obviously believed Castiel's_ prophecy_ if that is what you would call it. Unfortunately Dean looked ready to burst, "Are you kidding me?! A witch, she won't defeat evil, she_ is_ evil!"

Hermione had had just about enough of Dean's idea of an American stereotypical witch from lore. She moved to stand directly in front of Dean, poking her finger into his chest, ignoring the surprised look from Sam and the still stoic expression of Castiel. "If you had listened to me earlier instead of trying to put this," she waved her hand and the bullet picked itself up and flew to her hand. "Through my heart. Then maybe we could have got to the part about me being a _good_ witch, not one of those fake demon loving bitches. I was born with my magic and had to overcome a lot to get through school to be able to control it. And guess what? I'm what they call 'the smartest witch of my age'. I am not trying to kill people, I am trying to save them, and I most certainly am _not _evil."

Sam was stunned by Hermione's sudden outburst as previously she seemed rather timid, he realised that he never wanted to be on her bad side, he was beginning to realise that there was more to her than met the eye. He believed Hermione, and Castiel for that matter, he had said that she was a warrior and that was how she had acted. She had that look on her face, the same one that he and Dean wore, showing that she had been through a lot and had seen some terrible things. He knew that Dean would take a while to warm to Hermione so he took over. "How does it work, y'know, where does it come from? The magic-y stuff…"

Hermione laughed, "My magic, that magic-y stuff? Well I was born with it. There are: purebloods who are born to two magical parents, halfbloods who are born to a magical and a non-magical parent, and a muggle born who is born to two muggles. The last one is me, two non-magical parents, a complete surprise." The last part she said in such a sarcastic tone Sam almost thought that he was talking to Dean.

"So Dean and I are… Muggles?" the word sounded strange on his tongue, not something that he was used to.

"Yeah, I suppose. Where I come from one wizard decided that only purebloods were good enough and tried killing everyone else. It wasn't a good time, there was a war. I fought. We won in the end, though people were lost." Hermione walked back over to the table and picked up her beer, taking a sip. "I can see it, it's all over you, you lost someone special. Both of you." She mentioned to the two brothers and they shared a glance. She was right of course, they had both lost so many people along the way that it was a surprise that they both stood there at the time. "Do you believe me then? Or are you going to try and kill me again?"

A silence filled the room as she waited for the response of the brothers, the angel casually standing near her protectively.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam had made his decision. Hermione was protected by Castiel so must be able to be trusted, he no longer doubted that. He was however still a little sceptical of the woman, but that was more due to the fact that she seemed to be so powerful and could probably overpower both him and Dean at once.

Dean was still leaning in the corner with his beer contemplating all that had happened that night. Hermione was a good witch, Cas was his guardian angel, and he had accidently shot at Hermione.

Dean had immediately liked Hermione when he first met her and he wasn't often wrong. He also would trust Cas in an instant so surely that meant that he could trust Hermione. After everything that had happened he knew that he had acted rashly and let his past prejudices take over. He really needed to do something to make her understand that it was a mistake and that he was sorry without having to say that he was wrong. As he thought about it he came to the realisation that maybe he would be able to spend more time with Hermione, and whatever he had or hadn't said the British thing just intensified how hot she was.

"Okay, so umm, what can we do about these evil wizards?" Three heads spun round to face Dean as he broke the silence that had filled the motel room. Hermione's face was unsure, she eyed him, stepping a little closer spinning her wand in her hand by her side.

"What, so now you're just okay with this whole freak show?" She asked her voice piercing, the whole thing was strange for her too, and she had never met an angel before like the boys had.

"Yeah, Cas has been through enough crap with us for me to trust him fully, and I think I can learn to get along with you Sabrina"

She laughed, "As in the teenage witch? Does that make you Hilda or Zelda?" She continued giggling, picturing them living together with Cas as Salem the cat. It would probably be quite nice living with the brothers; although she was powerful as a witch, without her wand she was very short and did not hold many skills in the art of self-defence. She was sure that the boys would protect her, which was strange considering the events of the evening.

"Umm, Zelda I think, that's the dude in the tights in that video game right?" He obviously had never played that game, Hermione was about to comment when Sam butted in.

"Nope. Zelda is the princess; the guy in tights is Link." He sniggered as Dean shifted his shoulders back, clearly not having any comeback.

Hermione wanted this over with. She had known all along that there was nothing that the brothers could do; this was wizards that they were talking about, not ghosts. Maybe Cas would back her up on this. "Well, sorry to break up this party but I have some crap to deal with. Feel free to stay here and I'll ward the place, don't expect me back for a little while, I have to meet my supervisor too." She headed towards the door waving her wand in fluid motions muttering the spells under her breath. Neither brother said anything, they just settled at the table picking at the food and beer that were set up. It was the angel in the corner that surprisingly kicked up a fuss.

"You will take the Winchesters with you. They will help; this is not something that you will do alone." Castiel walked over to the boys, "I will take Sam, you may apparate with Dean and we will meet you in the alley of the bar where you were earlier." With that he disappeared, taking Sam along for the ride. Dean looked around then thumped his fist on the table cursing to himself. Hermione simply finished the spells and picked up her bag ending up stood in front of Dean still holding her wand.

"You ready Princess," she said as sarcastically as she could manage, before placing her hand on his arm. She noticed once again how small her hands were in comparison with his biceps, but put that thought out of her head, it would not do well to be splinched.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa. What are you gonna do with that thing?!" He pointed to her wand backing up almost tripping over the chair behind him.

She sighed not knowing how difficult it would be to get Dean to let her apparate with him. He still looked wary of her wand so she decided it was best if she explained to him what it was and how it worked. "This wand, made from vine wood with a dragon heartstring at its core, channels the magical power in my blood. Through it I can control the spells that I can cast, for example," She aimed her wand at the pillow on the bed, "Wingardium Leviosa." The pillow rose steadily and Dean watched on in amazement.

"And you did that without demon magic?"

"Of course," She snapped, it was getting old now, "How many times do I have to tell you, I was born with it."

"Okay, okay. So you can make things move, got any other tricks up your sleeve?" He seemed to be more intrigued than he was putting her on trial, but with a snap of her wrist the vase on the window sill smashed. Another swish; a picture frame, and another; a pillow, then a slow twist of her hand and all of the pieces flew back to their original places reforming a vase, a pillow, and a picture frame. Not letting Dean say anything she cut in.

"I can do wordless magic, and some wandless magic, though it is more difficult than performing normal spells as it requires more concentration. You ready to go?" She seemed to have stunned him into silence because he just nodded. "I am going to apparate us to the bar. Let me hold your arm." Slowly he moved his arm back into her reach. "Now don't fight it or god knows what might happen." She didn't give him time to respond she just turned on her heel pulling Dean with her into nothing. They reappeared within a second in the alley that she apparatus out of earlier. Sam and Cas were at the entrance waiting for them but Dean was in the floor beside her. At first she thought that he had been splinched so she started towards him, but then she heard the unmistakable sound of retching. She turned her nose up and walked away swiftly to stop herself from joining him. If there was one thing she hated it was the smell of sick, and flying, but mainly sick.

"Well there goes that crappy burger." He laughed dryly pulling himself up off the floor following the others. Hermione put her arm into her bag, up to the elbow, fishing around for something. She withdrew her hand, then passed Dean a handkerchief and a bottle of water. Dean and Sam had wide eyes as they watched on in amazement, Hermione's arm disappearing past the limits of the bag itself. She saw the look on Sam's face while Dean wiped his mouth and chugged half of the water Hermione had given him.

"Undetectable expansion charm" she stated ending the topic efficiently. "The death eaters are hiding out somewhere in the warehouse down the street. There are bound to be protective spells set up so I shall go in first to remove them. You three can follow. Any questions?" Sam, Dean and Cas all shook their heads so Hermione took this as a sign to go for it. Before they left she cast a spell on all three of her accomplices so that the Death Eaters would not notice them unless they knew they were there, it was not too different from the enchantments placed on 12 Grimmauld Place. Luckily the boys did not realise she was doing it, no prying questions to deal with.

Hermione waved her wand over herself, making sure the boys saw her transformation. Her brown hair straightened and whizzed up to the height of a bob, her features becoming more pointed, and her eyes swirling into a shining ocean blue. It was a guise she often wore when fighting an enemy that knew her original face, she was a famous war heroine after all.

"Wha- what was that?" Dean spluttered, watching Sam's mouth open and shut out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, just in case anyone eyes me too closely they might recognise me." She pursed her now thin lips and walked out of the alley.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione walked confidently across the street, right up to the front door of the warehouse that the Death Eaters were hiding out in. Carefully watching her every move were an angel and two fidgety brothers, it didn't sit right with them that this tiny woman was going into the fight alone. But she was. She had now began breaking the enchantments put up outside. They were strong, very strong, but nothing that she couldn't handle. After a very long 20 minutes she finally sighed, the last barrier was broken. She signalled to the guys over her shoulder while doing a final check that she had picked up and broken every spell, sometimes being friends with Bill Weasley came in handy as she spotted one final curse. Quickly she held up a hand, halting the boys in their tracks. It was complicated and required a lot of concentration; it was not something that she had come across before so when Castiel approached her she was a little bristly.

"Keep it quick angel boy, only one wall left."

"Yes. It is angel proofing woven into spell form. I cannot enter, but you and the Winchesters will be unharmed." Without any more explanation he disappeared leaving Hermione more than a little confused. She would definitely have to research angel proofing spells; maybe she could alter them for demons as well. She was bought out of her thoughts by the brothers flanking her, Dean on her right and Sam on her left.

"Where did Cas go?" Sam asked casually.

"There's angel proofing, bit weird really. Why would Death Eaters have angel proofing." Hermione was still musing over this when a scream echoed from inside the building. "Oh I took down the silencing as well. Let's go, be prepared for anything, and they will not be able to see you unless you draw attention to yourself." She didn't wait for them to reply she just moved swiftly into the building as quietly as possible, Sam and Dean followed, standing against the wall after shutting the door again.

Looking around she could see three Death Eaters wearing their cloaks and masks, one that was obviously the ring leader with his mask off, and one boy tied to a chair in the middle of the room. It was very dimly lit, but slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was shocked at what she saw. The leased had hair similar to the style she was championing at the moment, a pale complexion with sunken in cheeks, and piercing silver eyes. Lucius Malfoy stood over the whimpering boy with his wand in one hand and a silver blade in another, the other death eaters sniggering at something he said, she had no doubt that Draco Malfoy was also under one of the masks. She had to stop herself from immediately shooting the killing curse across the room and stopped to observe what was going in. Sam and Dean had also noticed the blade in the man's hand, and it was quite clearly and angel blade meaning that the boy in the chair was either an angel or a demon. Their suspicions were confirmed when Lucius hissed at the boy.

"Where is Crowley, he said that he would meet us himself. This will not do!" He proceeded to slice the blade across the boys' collar bone and he screamed again. A gut wrenching, ear bleeding, window breaking scream. He growled, a deceptively low voice emitted from his mouth.

"He said you haven't proved yoursel-" another slash, and another scream, "you get a few mo-" the blade sliced the seeped so far across the teens stomach.

"We have done everything." Lucius growled, "Everything your master asked us. Now go back to hell and tell him we expect to see him here at noon tomorrow!" He speedily muttered an exorcism in Latin and a pillar of black smoke flew out of the boys' mouth twisting, turning, then sinking straight through the concrete floor. Hermione had never seen an exorcism before, but she did know all about them. That meant that she knew that the boy the demon had been living in was now in immediate danger.

Hermione held up her hand to Sam and Dean indicating that they should stay where they were, and slowly inched around the exterior of the warehouse hiding behind a number of objects scattered around. Sometimes being tiny really was quite handy. When she reached the corner she decided that she had a good enough view, she knew that she was going to have to be fast but that was okay with her, the faster this was over the better.

All of a sudden she popped up from behind a desk an shot a simple wordless 'stupify' and a body bind at the farthest out death eater, following it up with a spell to muffle the sound he made as he fell. She repeated the action on the second death eater, unfortunately at that very moment Lucius spun around catching her in the act. She barely had time to throw a shield out before a stream of green light was directed at her. They duelled quick and violent, spell after spell being thrown and deflected, until Hermione finally hit him with a particularly nasty stinging hex. She hadn't failed to notice the other Death Eater that was stood near the corner; neither had Dean it seemed as he approached him from behind and hit him over the head with a large metal pipe that must have been lying around. The action took away some of her concentration, letting her guard slip for a split second. Lucius chose that minute to send a slicing hex her way, hitting her wand arm causing her to drop her wand. She watched it roll away from her into a dark corner, losing all faith in winning the duel.

She dropped to her knees, the pain intense, the glamour fading away to reveal her true face. She could hear manic laughing so she could only guess that Lucius recognised her. She was right.

He began towards her, knowing that she was very weak at that moment. Swishing his wand he raised her up into the air, an invisible force constricting around her throat, continuing to laugh in a psychotic fashion. "Well hello there miss Granger, nice to see you again." The unseen force on her neck loosened slightly allowing her to reply to his taunting.

"A pleasure" _cough_ "as always" _splutter _"Mr Malfoy" All too soon the force returned cutting off her air supply.

"What is Potty's little Mudblood doing all the way over in America? Holidaying maybe? Ha! I don't care, killing you will be just as sweet as seeing you writing around in our ballroom." He crossed over to her, letting the spell fall undone dropping Hermione to a heap on the floor gasping for breath. He pulled her sleeve down, "Still have the present that Bella gave you huh? _Crucio_" She screamed her arms flailing, but eyes set on Dean behind Lucius. Dean held out his gun, pointed straight at Lucius' heart, and shot. Unfortunately Lucius must have spotted Hermione's eye contact as he spun at the last second and managed to apparate away only being nicked by the bullet.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Lucius disappeared Hermione was still. Her right arm was drenched in blood, as was most of her body and the floor around her. Dean rushed to check her pulse, luckily it was still there, faint, but there. He took off his shirt and wrapped it tight around the wound trying to stop the flow of blood, it was all over his hands but he just carried on. After everything that he and Sam had lost he could not lose this little fireball, she had been amazing when she was fighting with the blonde haired guy that was for certain. He finished wrapping her up and could see Sam walking around the place picking up a few bits of old looking paper and shoving them into a bag, maybe there was something important in them that Hermione could find later.

"Maybe we should get out of here, someone could have heard something" Sam suggested after putting everything useful into his bag.

"What about this dude" Dean replied hitching his thumb in the direction of the boy sat in a demon trap.

"Umm, take him with us? He might be able to tell us something." Dean nodded, so Sam lifted the skinny teen over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and walked over to the door. He opened the door and headed out into the street, then he stopped, the impala was miles away at the motel where Dean had left it. Back inside the warehouse Dean scooped Hermione up into his arms her head nestling in the crook if his neck. There was a grumbling from the corner and he noticed the three guys lying in a heap, the one he had hit over the head was coming to and moving his limbs around, grasping his head in his hands.

"Shit" Dean mumbled under his breath, he was about to put Hermione down and deal with the guy when Sam strode back in, dumping the boy on the ground and breaking the three windows with angel sigils on them. Immediately Cas appeared in the centre of the room.

"He escaped." He stated looking around. He saw Dean cradling Hermione to his chest, when he was in front of her he could see the damage that was done; she had probably just knocked herself out. However, Dean was expecting Cas to heal Hermione so was left speechless when he walked off towards the three Death Eaters on the floor. Cas held the arms of two of them and disappeared, he was probably taking them back to the motel, then he appeared again taking the other Death Eater and the boy that Sam was carrying. Sam, Dean and Hermione were the only ones left and when Cas returned the brothers were talking in hushed tones while Dean held Hermione close.

"So demons," Sam began slowly.

"That must be why Cas wanted us to come along" Dean continued, "I wonder why they are working with these Death guys Hermione was talking about."

"Death Eaters" Sam corrected, "and it must be something big because Crowley was involved."

Castiel decided to make himself known at that time, "Yes Sam, it is big. They are trying to bring something back that should not be bought back. Unfortunately I cannot tell you any more, the rest you will have to figure out alone." He grasped both of the boys, then all of a sudden they were in their motel room and Cas was gone.

"Damn it" Dean cursed as he looked around wildly for Cas, but he was definitely gone, and he had left a little pile of people in the corner. Gently, he laid Hermione on his bed, lying her head down as carefully as possible and pushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face. The bleeding had finally stopped, but she had a nasty bruise on her left temple that was likely to pack a punch when she woke up. Sam on the other hand had started organising the bundles that were finally starting to mumble. He put each of them on a chair and had started tying them up when Dean remembered what Hermione had said about their wands and how they needed them for most magic.

"Sammy look for a stick, a wand like Hermione had, don't want them breaking out." They both searched the first two males and found wands. Dean decided that the best way to stop them from using the wands was to snap them, so he did. A sickening crunch and it was done. The two pieces of wood were thrown on the floor next to the door, soon joined by another two when Sam followed suit. Sam went to search the third Death Eater, but something was different, under the third robe was a woman. He couldn't find the wand just groping around in her dress so he tried to pull out his hand, which resulted in his watch getting stuck in some beading and a loud ripping sound as Sam fell to the ground. Dean tried not to laugh while he watched his brother get up and rum his bum, but failed, miserably. He always found it funny when people fell over, and there was nothing better than watching hilarious videos on the internet when Sam had gone to the library or research had got too much for him. If it happened right in front of him, well who knows how long that would entertain him.

"Go ahead and laugh. Jerk" Sam muttered under his breath. "Why don't you go search the chick" he said louder.

"That's a woman? I thought that they were all men. Huh, sure I'll have a look." Dean walked over to the third chair, and sure enough it was a woman. She was extremely slender, as he pulled off the cloak and mask, a waterfall of greying blonde hair cascaded out flowing past her shoulders straight down to her waist. It was very similar to the way Hermione had altered hers earlier; oddly enough her eyes fluttered open, revealing a blue that Hermione had also copied earlier. They were alike, but not the same. The eyes in front of him were aged and weary, surrounded by line upon line of worry and fear.

"If you are looking for a wand, I don't have one" It was so quiet Dean probably wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't right in front of her, but he did. She was British like Hermione, but there was an edge of aristocracy in her voice, as if she was a Lady or a Count or something of the sort and was used to being addressed as such. In a way she was, but now she was just a Death Eater and there was no way that Dean would believe her as she was on the opposing side. Whether it was the right decision he backed off with his hands out in surrender. She moved her head elegantly around to see her two friends captive with their masks still on, though they too were moving their limbs, testing how they could move considering the ropes binding them. Her eyes lingered on one male longer than the other, there was a clear sign of dirty blonde hair edging out of the side of the mask he was wearing, triggering Dean to presume that they were related. He was right. "Would you mind removing that _thing _from my son's head? It is ghastly is it not? My husband insists so, but I see he is not here. Hmm. A good thing I think, he would most certainly not be pleased. Ha! As if anything could please the great Lucius Malfoy" She scoffed in a very inelegant way tossing her hair about her inkling her head expecting the mask to be removed immediately.

Sam followed her orders, whipping the mask from the younger Malfoy revealing his pointy face, pallid features and trademark Blonde hair. Unfortunately Hermione chose that moment to wake up, clutching her forehead in her hands, looked up into the eyes of her childhood nemesis tied to a chair in an unknown motel room and screamed. Loudly.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean dove at Hermione, arm outstretched, blocking her from screaming anymore. He held her on the bed as her eyes spun around wildly taking in the scene around her, happily noting that the Malfoy's were tied to the chairs that they were uncomfortably sat on. She started to struggle against him but must of hit her arm because she cringed and sagged against his chest, pulling the limb back towards her. After her struggles had ceased Dean decided to remove his hand, but before he could do so she bit down hard on the palm of his hand. He retracted his hand immediately, but kept her settled in his lap with the other arm, muttering curses under his breath while he shook his hand about. Sam however found this very funny but stopped laughing when Dean and Hermione both sent him death glares. Hermione eventually stopped wriggling, however uncomfortable she was with her seat she forgot by the look on the faces of the other people in the room. Before things got out of hand she felt that she should work out how she had got to what was obviously the boy's motel room, she could tell as it was the mirror image of her own with an extra bed - and three Death Eaters.

"Outside. Now!" She said through gritted teeth as she flung Deans arm from her waist and tore out of the door, tapping her foot impatiently by the impala. The two brothers shared a look, Dean inclined his head towards the hostages and Sam nodded, he would stay inside with the Death Eaters in case anything happened. Hurriedly the door was shut in case anyone wandering past saw the three people tied up in their room, not that they would've said anything, the place was shady as hell. And Dean would know.

Hermione was leaning on the impala with a suspicious look on her face when Dean began to walk towards her, her arm was still wrapped in his shirt but she was eyeing it up. He stopped a few paces away from her, giving her space, and partially because his hand still hurt and he didn't want to be bit again.

"Judging by that reaction you know those guys in there, and the guy back at the warehouse. You got history?" Dean approached her cautiously, and when he deemed her safe he joined her leaning on the impala. Once or twice she looked as if she was going to say something, and then stopped. Eventually she sighed and tuned to him, pulling up her sleeve. A pink outline of a jagged scar marred her skin; it looked like it had been carved into her arm only a short time ago, but in reality it had been there for almost ten years.

"I got this during the war; I was tortured by the sister of the woman in there, while they stood by and watched. This word, mudblood, it was written on me to show my place, not worthy like other _purebloods_, but second rate because I was born to a family with no magic before me. After the war I dedicated myself to rounding up creeps like these so no more innocent children had to go through what my friends and I did." A tear rolled down her cheek but she did not wipe it away, it was in her past and she could let it go. "I'll have to tell my supervisor about this if you don't mind," Dean shook his head, "okay, then I'll have my wand back."

Quickly Dean turned to her, "You don't have it?" he exclaimed jumping away from her, so far she had been fairly dangerous when angered so maybe this was better settled from a distance.

"You don't have my wand?" She asked stalking towards him, "I dropped it while fighting an- I- don't worry" she sighed again, she was too worn out to argue with Dean about this.

"I, uh, Cas just sorta popped up and bought us back here so…" He stopped talking as she had already walked back into the motel room. They had completely forgotten about her wand when they were looking after the prisoners, he was never going to live that down. He finally stalked back to the motel room to find Sam and Hermione stood next to the prisoners, the blonde boy was smirking and Hermione was looking less calm by the minute.

As he got nearer he could hear what they were discussing, "…know these Death Eaters?"

"We have been looking for them for a while, the woman is Narcissa Malfoy, the boy her son Draco. The other man I will have to double check, but I believe that he is Amycus Carrow. They are all charged with many war crimes, that and being nasty pieces of work" She turned to catch the younger Malfoys gaze, who returned her look with a sneer as mean as ever. What shocked Hermione though was the look on Narcissa Malfoys face; she was calm and even slightly smiling, as if she was happy to be there. With this she had an idea, "They must've had wands, did you guys pick them up?" She was hopeful maybe she could use one of them to contact her supervisor.

"Yeah they did, we snapped them all so they couldn't use them." Dean answered smugly, holding up the pieces of wood with a proud smile on his face. However Hermione was not happy, any trace of a smile on her face was gone and she fell to the bed with her head in her hands. Sam gathered what she was trying to do and reached inside his bag from earlier and took out her wand, walking over to her and sitting next to her on the bed, pushing rudely past Dean on his way.

"Hermione," she looked up as he softly said his name, "why would you need one of their wands when you could use your own." He put her wand into her hand and he could see her visibly relax. She rolled the wand around a few times then looked up to Sam, wrapping her arms around him. To say that Sam was shocked by the display of affection would be an understatement, but after a few seconds he bent forward to hug the woman properly. Dean however just stood in the corner looking even more grumpy than usual.

Pulling back out of the embrace Hermione approached the three people tied to chairs, waving her wand to ensure that they were properly contained. She removed the mask of the third captive to reveal that it was Amycus Carrow; he was groaning and had a gash on the back of his head that was bleeding a fair amount. As much as she didn't want to she quickly closed the wound so that it was no longer bleeding, but left the remaining blood there; no way in hell was she going to clean him up better. After she had finished he looked up at her darkly, "Don't need no mudblood _bitch_ to do anything for me. Probably gone and give me a brain haemorrhage." Hermione cleared her throat, ignoring the insult and praying that Sam and Dean didn't hear. What she didn't expect however was for someone else to stand up for her.


End file.
